Hero Water.
This had been the Fūma clan's lifeline during the chaotic Warring States period, their ace in the hole when everything else failed.
Later, when Hashirama's hidden ninja village system spread throughout the shinobi world, the head of the Fūma clan followed suit. He gathered all the ninja clans within the Land of Waterfalls to establish Taki.
Naturally, the Hero Water then became a treasured artifact within the village, guarded like the crown jewels.
Shiori's fingertips brushed over the scroll recording this information. According to what she was reading, the Hero Water was incredibly powerful, supposedly capable of multiplying the user's chakra dozens of times over.
Of course, rumors like that were probably bullshit.
But that the Hero Water could enhance someone's chakra was undeniable. As long as its amplification exceeded six times, she was confident she could unleash the Complete Susanoo.
And if the amplification reached ten times or more? She just might actually pull it off.
Naturally, such a powerful treasure would come with severe side effects.
"Once the enhanced chakra is depleted, it consumes massive amounts of the user's life force, possibly even leading to death?"
Her lips curved into a slight smile. Just a mortal wound, was that even worth calling a side effect?
Looking at the records alone, the Hero Water seemed extremely compatible with her abilities.
With just a moment's thought, she already had two possible ways to use it.
First, she could treat the Hero Water as an instant power boost. Once the side effects kicked in, she could simply use Ōtoshi to rewind her body's state back to before the damage occurred.
Second, she could consume a large amount of Hero Water at once, use her left eye's ability to record her strongest moment, then summon that state at will.
This way, she could incorporate what was supposed to be temporary power into her regular combat arsenal.
Outside the archives, autumn rain began to fall quietly. The fine drops wove into a misty veil in the cool night air.
Shiori memorized the necessary intelligence, then calmly walked through the night-shrouded streets, heading home first.
"I'm back."
She opened the door and stepped into the living room, where she found her father sprawled on the sofa, fast asleep, his face flushed with the telltale redness of too much sake.
One hand dangled an empty bottle toward the floor, swaying slightly with his breathing, while his loud snores echoed through the otherwise silent room.
Honestly... She sighed inwardly, her brows knitting slightly, though a flicker of unspoken worry passed through her gaze.
She crossed her arms and stood there, speaking with feigned annoyance, "Hey, do you think it's still summer? It's autumn now. Go sleep in your room."
Seemingly startled by her voice, Homura shifted slightly, muttering under his breath.
"...No... I won't go back..."
Hearing him sound almost petulant, Shiori's eyes narrowed. Was her drunk father planning to rebel tonight?
Just as she was considering whether to punch him in the gut to sober him up, his lips trembled again, whispering slurred words.
"...I'll hold them off... you go back..."
"Hm?"
Shiori raised an eyebrow, gazing at his tightly shut eyes. Clearly, it was nothing more than drunken dream talk.
Really... is sake that good? she complained internally, a trace of helplessness in her eyes.
She bent down, deftly pried the empty bottle from his hand, and set it gently on the nearby table.
Then, without hesitation, she hoisted him onto her shoulder and carried him to his room.
His body swayed with her steps, but he remained completely unconscious, drunk beyond saving.
She laid him on the bed, pulled the blanket over him casually, and didn't worry about waking the drunkard.
"Sleep well," she spoke softly, then turned and quietly shut the door.
Originally, she had planned to quickly prepare her ninja tools and set out immediately.
But the pungent stench of alcohol clinging to her clothes from moving her father made her feel unbearably uncomfortable.
"Screw it, I'll take a bath before heading out."
She quickly made her decision and headed for the bathroom.
As a kunoichi, she despised having any unnecessary scent on her. Even when bathing, she never used strongly fragranced soaps or oils.
Half an hour later, dressed in a simple black outfit, she slipped silently out of the Uchiha compound, concealed by the night and the curtain of rain.
Even in these relatively peaceful times, Konoha's security remained tight as a drum. The entire village was constantly under the watch of sensory barriers.
As Konoha shinobi, leaving the village without a mission or the Hokage's approval was strictly forbidden. Anyone caught would face pursuit and punishment.
Of course, if they weren't caught, they'd earn themselves a shiny new "missing-nin" title instead.
And since her purpose was to steal Taki's treasured artifact, she naturally couldn't expect the Fourth Hokage to approve her field trip.
Though "steal" wasn't quite the right word.
According to the intelligence, the Hero Water was produced by the sap of a massive tree rooted within Taki's territory.
Since it was nature's creation, if the Taki ninjas could obtain it, why couldn't she?
Treasures of the world naturally belonged to those with the strength to claim them. That was just how the world worked.
Taking advantage of the night's cover, Shiori made her way to the northwestern edge of Konoha's barrier coverage. Her eyes flashed crimson as she activated her left eye's power.
Leaning back, she sank into the black shadows beneath her feet.
Her form slipped through the ground like liquid darkness, easily bypassing Konoha's sensory barriers and emerging outside the village.
This was a technique she'd developed based on the shadow dimension of her left eye, a derivative of her dōjutsu abilities.
She'd named it "Shadow Release." She'd even used this ability to silently infiltrate Root's base once.
Though not long after entering, Tatsuma's insects had discovered her anyway.
The ability allowed her to reduce her mass to zero, bypassing most barriers with ease, but against the endless variety of sensory jutsu, it wasn't foolproof. If discovered, she'd still be exposed like anyone else.
---
After quietly leaving the village, she oriented herself, then advanced northwest according to her mental map.
Hours later, as dawn began to break, she estimated that at her pace, she should have already crossed into the Land of Waterfalls.
Most of the Land of Waterfalls was covered by dense forests, not too different from the Land of Fire. For most people crossing the border between the two countries for the first time, it was damn near impossible to tell the difference.
But that "most people" obviously didn't include Shiori, who had prepared thoroughly.
She stopped before a massive tree so large it would take six or seven people to encircle it, then raised her head to carefully study its leaves.
The Land of Waterfalls lay slightly farther north than the Land of Fire, so the types of trees and the shapes of their leaves served as intelligence sources.
After roughly confirming her position, she pulled a map from her ninja pouch and began planning her next route.
Unlike the Five Great Hidden Villages and several specialized smaller ones, many small nations' ninja villages were true "hidden villages," deliberately located in secret places that were a pain in the ass to find.
And Taki was the prime example. All Shiori had been able to obtain from the Uchiha clan's records was that it had been built near a gigantic waterfall.
As for its exact location? She'd have to figure that shit out herself.
After a moment of thought, she decisively put away her map and darted off in a chosen direction.
She weaved quickly through the forest, and before long, stopped near an underground black market hidden in the wilderness, surrounded by dense woodland.
Yeah, after staring at her map for way too long, she had finally decided it would be quicker to just buy the damn information from the Land of Waterfalls' black market.
There were simply too many waterfalls on the map that could potentially hide the village. She didn't have time to check each one like some kind of tourist.
Transforming into the guise of a rugged-looking man, Shiori dusted herself off, steadied her breathing, and triggered a hidden mechanism to enter the underground market.
Inside, the lighting was dim, and the air was thick with damp chill that made everything feel slightly moldy.
She walked calmly up to a tall counter, lowered her voice, altered her tone, and spoke to the clerk, "I need the exact location of Taki."
"Five hundred thousand ryō," the clerk replied flatly without even raising his head, his voice carrying the cold indifference of routine business.
Pretty expensive, Shiori thought, but quickly pulled out the money she'd prepared in advance and handed it over.
Say what you want about the shinobi world's underworld, but they never disappointed when it came to straightforward transactions: pay the price, get the service, no bullshit.
In less than two minutes, a black market agent with a nose ring stepped out from the back room, placed a scroll on the counter, and pushed it toward her.
"Your information," he said expressionlessly.
Shiori took the scroll, quickly checked it, nodded once she was satisfied, then turned and left.
---
Outside Taki, a massive torrent plunged from the top of a towering cliff, forming curtains of white water with a thunderous roar that could probably be heard for miles.
The crashing water struck the rocks below, spraying up countless droplets and mist. The haze drifted with the breeze, shrouding the area in a dreamlike, mysterious atmosphere that was actually pretty beautiful.
Hidden within the thick canopy of a tall tree, Shiori observed the natural waterfall barrier that concealed the village.
Unlike most small nations, the Land of Waterfalls possessed rich natural resources. Coupled with the close ties between its daimyō's family and that of the Fire Daimyō, its national strength was formidable.
Moreover, the Waterfall Daimyō gave solid support to his village, never stingy with funds, even going so far as to purchase a tailed beast from Konoha at great expense.
With the power of a tailed beast, Taki held a certain degree of influence throughout the shinobi world.
Especially now, when the great hidden villages were still licking their wounds from the Third Great Ninja War, rumors had quietly begun to spread, claiming that Taki might replace either Suna or Kiri to become one of the new Five Great Hidden Villages.
As for Suna, it was an open secret: with someone like Baki able to serve as Kazekage, their decline was undeniable. Being considered the weakest of the Five was only natural.
Kiri, on the other hand, most in the shinobi world treated those rumors as a joke. Few truly believed Kiri had fallen that far behind.
After all, they'd long boasted about being cruel and merciless, calling themselves the "Village of the Bloody Mist." Yet in the Third War, everyone discovered that every other village seemed just as ruthless when push came to shove.
To top it off, the Yellow Flash had devastated their forces, and their Mizukage had been killed within his own village. It was perhaps the biggest stain in the history of ninja warfare.
Of course, such rumors were just gossip anyway.
For Shiori, it was enough to gauge Taki's general level of strength.
She pulled a cat-faced mask from her ninja pouch and fitted it over her face. For this mission, secrecy was key, she'd avoid exposing her true identity as much as possible.
After all, if Taki discovered that a member of the Uchiha clan had infiltrated them, they'd surely lodge an official diplomatic protest with Konoha.
Shiori herself didn't give a damn about such "weaklings' complaints," but she was concerned it might bring unnecessary trouble to Ryouma, who had just been appointed as the Hokage's Advisor.
At that thought, her lips curved into a slight smile. Lately, she felt she was becoming more considerate.
In front of the waterfall, she used her Sharingan, and circled around repeatedly, carefully scanning the area, but she still couldn't find the entrance to Taki.
Looks like I'll have to wait here and grab a Taki ninja when they come out, then interrogate them with genjutsu, she thought.
The intelligence she'd spent five hundred thousand ryō on really had only told her the village's location, nothing about how to actually get inside. What a rip-off.
Clicking her tongue in irritation, she silently cursed the black market of the Land of Waterfalls, hoping she'd at least succeed in obtaining the Hero Water. Otherwise...
Time passed slowly as she waited with patience.
Finally, she sensed it, a sudden surge of powerful chakra from behind the great waterfall.
As expected. She knew the village must have done something to conceal itself behind the falls, which explained why her search had come up empty.
"This chakra isn't bad... Let me see what kind of barrier technique could be hidden so well."
The next instant, there was no barrier being dispelled. Instead, a crimson explosion erupted violently behind the waterfall.
With a roar, a giant toad wielding a trident was blasted out from behind the falls by the explosion's force, tracing an arc through the air before crashing heavily into the lake below.